Emmanuelle

      I was pulled from my pleasant dream by banging on my bedroom door. After glancing at the clock to see what insane time of the morning it was, I slipped out of my bed and headed over to the door. I opened it and leaned against the door jam, resting my eyes and hoping my gown covered everything seeing as I didn't have the strength to adjust the strap.

      "Where were you last night?" my father's booming voice inquired causing me to glance up at him. The look in his eyes dared me to lie so I did the next best thing, dodged the question.

      "Do you have any idea what time it is?" I asked him.

      His green eyes went from its light hunter green to a darker jade and I knew he was pissed so I turned my back to him and walked back into my bedroom. I plopped down on the bed and placed my head on my feather filled pillow as he followed me.

      "Emmanuelle Maria Suarez!" my father exclaimed.

      "I was out," I snapped back. "What? I can't choose what school I want to attend and you want me to stay locked up in the house as well?"

      "It's for you own.."

      "Good. Yes I know," I interrupted his well repeated statement before saying, "I'm applying to Miami's School for the Visual and Performing Arts."

      He froze and his jaw clenched; my father was pissed. He grabbed my lalique make-shift candy dish and threw it at the nearest wall.

      "What the fuck?" I exclaimed. "That damn thing cost six hundred dollars!"

      "I know how much that shit costs!" He yelled and I jumped back a bit. My father was known for his violent temper but it was a side of him I, thankfully, never had to experience. While I knew he would never hurt me I didn't want to test his resolve. "You will do what the fuck I say Princess or you will find things aren't going to be as fun as you thought they'd be," he warned.

Manuello

      "Fine," she said calmly before turning away.

      I wasn't stupid enough to believe that she gave up fighting but this was the best I could hope for so I dealt with it. After giving myself a mental note to call Michael and Shawn to come by and watch out for her, I left her room to head to the office. I did have a business to run.

Emmanuelle

      I waited until my father closed my door before slipping back under my sheets to get a few more hours of sleep. Maybe some rest would give me new ideas on how to convince my father to let me attend the school of my choice. I loved my father dearly and usually we got along fine but lately he'd been jumping on my last fucking nerve.

Jarell

      I stood from my seat across from Kimberly who, as usual, was looking edible in her tailored suit. She placed the last stack of hundreds in my silver plated suitcase before locking it and sliding it to me. Coming up in the game I would have never had someone like Kimberly on the payroll because she charged two hundred grand per transaction but getting three million dollars in 5s and 20s shrunken to two point eight mill in clean one hundred dollar bills was worth the cost.

      "It was a pleasure," Kimberly replied with a smile as she closed her own suit cases filled with money.

      I nodded at her and she smoothed her white jacket over her matching skirt to make sure she looked her best with the least amount of wrinkles. The woman was bad and if I didn't have a rule of not mixing business with pleasure, she would have definitely been another bitch on my list. As I walked out of the suite that had been booked for the transaction, I took in my surroundings. A fool I was not and carrying around close to three million in cash was asking to be a moving target.

      My first stop was my bank, not my main bank but a small branch on the coast that was used to high roller and asked little to no questions. With my fake ID, social security card, and deposit slip I headed into the bank to deposit my money in the account before heading home to make moves to transfer the funds into an unnamed Swiss Bank account. Normally I had others handle my business to eliminate myself from the 'paper trail' but this was the one thing I handled myself. I loved my boys and they were family but I trusted no one when it came to my money.

Emmanuelle

      It was a little after six o'clock in the evening when I finally left the house. I guess my pops was really pissed off about that whole me being out without him knowing where I was and no security bit because he had both Michael and Shawn posted outside of my bedroom to make sure I wouldn't be able to leave the house along. Talk about over kill. My destination of choice was Pizza Rustica. Normally I don't eat pizza often because I'm quite fond of my shape and the clothes that cover it but I was starving and could care less about the carb counting I'm semi strict about.

      "I'm surprised your father hasn't said anything about your wardrobe yet," Shawn replied as he helped me out of the driver's seat.

      At the present moment I was dressed casually in a pair of tan low rise Joie cargopants, a cute wine colored Arden B. halter, and a comfortable pair of Gucci espadrille's graced my feet. Honestly, I didn't see anything wrong with what I had on. So a little cleavage was showing it wasn't something no one else had ever seen.

      "I don't see anything wrong with what I wear," I replied as I slid my purse over my shoulder and led the way inside of the pizzeria that was filled with people.

      Michael and Shawn glanced at each other before shaking their heads and getting to business. Each of them surveyed the restaurant inconspicuously before Shawn headed over to the back to claim an empty booth while Michael followed me to the line while I tried to figure out what I wanted to order.

      "What are you and Shawn getting?" I asked Michael.

      "I was thinking about maybe getting two slices of the supreme," he replied with a shrug.

      That most definitely wasn't for me. I'm a simple person when it came to mundane things like pizza, burgers, and what not. I didn't need it loaded just one topping was fine and preferably nothing fishy, onion-y, or full of mushrooms please!

      "Welcome to Pizza Rustica," a female around my age replied as she checked Michael out, "how may I help you?"

      "You can help me," I started stressing the me, "by first giving me your attention instead of staring at him." A light blush formed on her cheeks and I almost felt bad for putting her out there but as we all know, almost doesn't count.

      "Yes, mam," she replied.

      "Now I need two slices of supreme pizza, a slice of pepperoni, and two slices of the Hawaiian pizza," I replied before giving her my order for the drinks.

      While she went to fill my order Michael started bitching about me paying for him but as usual I won the argument, one of the perks of being the boss's daughter. When she came back with the drinks I ushered Michael off with them with instructions for him to take them to the table, ignoring his mumblings about me treating him as if he was my bitch as I handed the cashier a twenty.

Jarell

      I led my date for the night into Pizza Rustica and while I knew that she was disappointed that I'd taken her to a pizza spot instead of the four star restaurant next door I could care less. First of all neither of us were dressed for Taunta's; I was in a pair of jeans, a pair of fresh white air force 1's and a graphic tee while she was dressed in a tan colored tunic, white low rise jeans, and a pair of open toed heels. She'd realize soon enough that I didn't spend any paper on bitches. She was getting all she was going to get out of me right here. Just as we were heading over to an empty table I noticed a booth towards the back that housed a couple of people I knew and hadn't expected to see.

Amelia

      This is one cheap ass dude, I swear. I'd been chasing after this fool for months, normally if a dude wasn't throwing me rhythm I let him be but Jamonte was different. My ex used to get his car worked on at one of Jamonte's shops and so I knew this brother was paid. He was the East/West Coast Custom's of the south and I knew all my hard work would be worth it once we got together and where does his ass take us on the first date? Some fucking pizza spot and his ass had the nerve to look at me crazy when I asked for two slices. Shit, the pizza wasn't but three dollars a slice. What, he couldn't spare six dollars?

      Okay, so the date hadn't started off like I'd planned but I was willing to put forth the effort to change that so I sparked up a conversation. At first I tried to include Jamonte but he said that he'd much rather hear about me so I obliged and began to tell him about myself. It wasn't until I asked him a question that I realized not only had he not been paying attention but he was staring at something behind me. I turned and couldn't help the anger that built up inside of me as I noticed him staring at a girl, who was sitting in front of two men, and she was staring back at him. I pushed my plate away and stood from my seat before turning my attention to Jamonte.

      "You are the rudest motherfucker I have ever met in my life. Why don't you go over there if you like her so much?" and with that said I stormed out of the restaurant not caring if I caused a scene.

Jarell

      Before I had a chance to do anything other than scoff at Amelia's dramatics, Emmanuelle slid into Amelia's empty seat and placed her drink on the table. "I'm sorry if I caused problems between you and your girlfriend."

      "Don't worry about it," I replied with a shrug as I grabbed my Pepsi and said, "And she wasn't my girlfriend. I didn't know you knew Sincere and Caine." I nodded my head over to the table she'd once occupied with the two guys who were watching us closely.

      "Of course I know them. After all, they do work for my father."

Camille

      Manuello and I had just come from dinner and were waiting for the valet to bring around our car when I happened to look in a window and saw Emmanuelle talking to Manuello's friend Jarell. I glanced at Manuello and then at the window trying to think of whether or not I wanted to say anything. While I knew that Manuello wouldn't approve of the scenario being displayed across from us, I decided to mind my business. After all, I did like Emmanuelle and the girl did need a life. It was bad enough Mannie had security follow her twenty-four seven. The last thing she needed was a snitch as a step-mother.

Manuello

      I dropped my wife off at the house and changed out of my suit before heading back out. For the past year and a half I had been playing Adam "Nice" Washington's coke connection but he had gotten into some problems and instead of coming to me like a real man and explaining the problem, he had been dodging my calls. Tonight, I would have to show him just why people never fucked with my money. Sadly enough I actually liked Adam but I liked my money more. You couldn't afford to play favorites in my business because once they get a taste of weakness, these vultures pounce.

      It took about forty minutes to get to Adam's apartment building. Obviously he'd made sure to keep up on his rent although he'd been slow to keep his most important collector up to date. Poor Adam forgot that I ran Miami. There was no where he could hide, especially not in an apartment that was in his baby's mother's name; a woman I'd happened to have bounced around the bedroom once or twice.

      "Manuello," Gina, Adam's girl, whispered when she saw me. "Now's not a good time..."

      "This isn't a personal call," I replied seriously and she stared at me before backing up and letting me in.

      She was used to the drill so she didn't say much. Gina just collected her two year old son from the couch under the pretense of getting some ice cream as I delved deeper into the apartment. Chris and Devin guarded the front door as Hector and I headed into the bedroom with our guns drawn. Hector paused by the door of the bedroom after securing the area and I walked over towards the sleeping Adam and tapped him on the head with the barrel of my gun.

      "Gina, I told you to give me an hour," Adam mumbled.

      "Sorry to disappoint you Nice but I'm not your bitch," I spat and watched in amusement as his eyes snapped open.

      "Ma-Man...Manuello," he stuttered.

      "In the flesh," I replied as I grabbed the wooden chair that went to his desk and pulled it towards his bed before sitting down. "Normally I don't make house calls but I figured I'd make the exception for you."

      "Wait a minute man," he replied and sweat began to form on his brow when he caught sight of my gun. "I'll get you your money man. Ju-just give me a couple of days."

      "A couple of days?" I asked calmly. "You're already two weeks late on my payment. I had to come to you Adam...this is bad for business."

      "I know man, but some shit came up and one my boys got hit. I swear to everything I hold dear that I'll have your money by the end of the week. Just don't kill me," he pleaded.

      "Why would I kill you?" I asked him rhetorically. "I'm not the beneficiary of your insurance and we both know dead men don't pay."

      He let out a breath then and I chuckled as I re-aimed my gun from his head to his leg. His eyes widened when he realized that I hadn't put the gun away.

      "Wait a minute now Manuello. I thought you said you weren't going to kill me!" he exclaimed like a little bitch.

      He should be happy all I plan to do is shoot him. I liked the kid but he still fucked up. Most people find themselves in critical condition with the added stress of still getting me my money or getting the plug pulled. Best believe Nice is getting off easy.

      "Oh, I'm not going to kill you. I am going to fuck you up though," I replied as I shot him twice, once in the upper thigh and once in the left arm.

      I decided to leave him the use of his dominant arm...I wasn't totally heartless.

Emmanuelle

      When I got home my pops was still out and my security detail basically went and did their own thing. Oh don't get it twisted, they had the exits monitored at all times but since I was home they didn't feel the need to trail me and it was a good thing they didn't because I had some information to find and my first stop was my father's office.

      As much leeway as he gave me, okay that was a joke, his office was the one place I'd never been allowed in and surely never unaccompanied by him but I knew he wasn't going to give me the answers I wanted so just like any other curious woman, I decided to do some spy work of my own. One thing my boarding school did for me, among other things, was connect me with the right people...especially those who knew how to hack into various high security systems. It didn't take me but ten minutes to get past my father's security code and now I had the real chore of figuring out his filing system enough to find out Jarell's information.

      There was just more to the man than people were willing to say and damn it, I was curious. Yes, I know curiosity killed the cat but everyone knows that felines have nine lives. It had taken me close to two hours to finally find his folder of contacts when I heard my father's baritone asking Michael if he'd had any trouble tonight. I instantly froze up, just knowing I was going to get caught before snapping into action.

      I quickly exited out all of the programs before turning the speaker's down and flicking off the lights. I'd just pressed the shut down button and cut off the monitor when I heard my father jingling the doorknob to his office door. Automatically I glanced around for somewhere to hide and was about to resign myself to get caught and deal with his punishment when I realized that if I pulled myself into a ball I could fit under his desk.

Manuello

      I unlocked my office door and cut on the light to make sure everything was where I had it; that no one had been inside before closing the door and locking it behind me. Michael had told me that Emmanuelle had been quite reserved today and had only been out to get something to eat. She was giving me the silent treatment again, especially because her tutors would be by tomorrow for their first session and she didn't appreciate it but I would not budge. Her safety was more important than her desire to be 'normal'. Normalcy was extremely overrated anyway.

Emmanuelle

      I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and waited for about five minutes before unfolding myself from the uncomfortable position and slowly crawled out from under the desk. I was pretty sure my father just peeked in and left but I just wanted to make sure. It was better to be safe than sorry.

      I lay on the floor and tried to peek through the crack under the door to make sure there weren't feet on the other side before unlocking the door and slowly opening it. Once the coast was clear I opened the door farther and twisted the lock before exiting the room and closing the door behind me. I'd walked maybe five steps from the door when I heard Shawn's voice ask me where I was coming from.

      My heart was beating out of my chest but I played my nervousness off and said, "Did you forget this is my house? There you go getting out of pocket."

      He rolled his eyes but didn't pressure me. Had it been Michael I would have had some explaining to do but obviously tonight, luck was on my side.